Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations

After Reports Of Chaos And Confusion, White House Announces New Plan For Remdesivir Distribution

“State health departments will distribute the doses to appropriate hospitals in their states because state and local health departments have the greatest insight into community-level needs in the COVID-19 response,” HHS said following backlash from hospitals and doctors across the country. Meanwhile, Stat pulls back the curtain on NIH's decision to stop its drug trial of remdesivir as a COVID-19 treatment

Stat:
Plan To Distribute Covid-19 Drug Unveiled Amid Concerns Over Allocation
The federal government on Saturday announced a plan to distribute remdesivir, the antiviral drug used as a Covid-19 treatment, following nearly a week of chaos and confusion surrounding which hospitals and which states would receive the medication, and how they were chosen. While some hospitals in recent days had reported receiving allocations of remdesivir directly, others received none, leaving many doctors and hospitals across the country frustrated and in the dark as to when and they might receive supplies. (Facher, 5/9)

Politico:
Trump Administration Announces Plan For Distributing Remdesivir After Chaotic Rollout
HHS will ship 14,400 vials of the drug to state health departments, putting the onus on them to decide which hospitals get some of the country's limited supply. Previously the administration had sent a total of 35,360 vials straight to a handpicked list of hospitals, via its contractor AmerisourceBergen. The drug's maker, Gilead, has donated 607,000 vials of remdesivir to the United States government. That's enough to treat about 78,000 patients, HHS said. Gilead had previously said it would make 1.5 million vials available worldwide at no charge. (Roubein and Brennan, 5/9)

Reuters:
U.S. To Allow States To Distribute Gilead's Remdesivir To Fight COVID-19
The Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA) on Thursday said it is asking for more information on the federal government’s plan for deciding how and where to distribute the drug. The federal government began distributing the drug this week but doctors across the country, particularly in COVID-19 hotspots like New York and Boston, became concerned after being denied their request to obtain the new therapy, IDSA president Dr. Thomas File told Reuters on Thursday. The IDSA on Wednesday called on the Trump Administration to explain how it will ensure equitable distribution of remdesivir to states and hospitals based on COVID-19 cases and hospitalization rates. (5/9)

Stat:
Inside The NIH’s Controversial Decision To Stop Its Big Remdesivir Study
The drug maker Gilead Sciences released a bombshell two weeks ago: A study conducted by a U.S. government agency had found that the company’s experimental drug, remdesivir, was the first treatment shown to have even a small effect against Covid-19. Behind that ray of hope, though, was one of the toughest quandaries in medicine: how to balance the need to rigorously test a new medicine for safety and effectiveness with the moral imperative to get patients a treatment that works as quickly as possible. At the heart of the decision was a process that was — as is often in the case in clinical trials — by turns secretive and bureaucratic. (Herper, 5/11)

In other news —

ABC News:
Triple Combination Therapy Shows Promise For COVID-19 Patients With Less Severe Illnesses
As scientists scramble to find COVID-19 treatments among existing approved drugs, researchers in Hong Kong may have found a winning combination. Early data shows that a triple antiviral therapy may be safe and effective in treating patients with mild to moderate cases of COVID-19, according to a study published Friday in Lancet. All three drugs used in the study are already approved to treat other illnesses. Interferon beta 1b is a drug commonly used to treat multiple sclerosis, lopinavir-ritonavir is an anti-retroviral medication used to treat HIV and ribavirin is commonly used to treat hepatitis C. (Baldwin, 5/8)

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